Elections for local government

Local government in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is divided into 26 districts for local government purposes. In Northern Ireland local councils do not carry out the same range of functions as those in the rest of the United Kingdom, for example they have no responsibility for education, for road building or for housing...

 were held in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

 in 1981.

Overall

> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >

Party		Councillors		Votes
		Total	+/-	% share	Total
142	+68	26.6	176,816
151	-25	26.4	175,965
104	-9	17.5	116,487
38	-32	8.9	59,397
37	+5	6.7	44,427
21	N/A	3.9	25,859
3	-3	1.8	12,059
6	-4	1.2	8,219
5	N/A	1.2	7,817
5	-7	0.7	4,962
2	N/A	0.7	4,734
2	-4	0.7	4,478
2	N/A	0.5	3,654
1	0	0.5	3,563
1	N/A	0.5	3,057
	New Ulster Political Research	1	N/A	0.4	2,989
	Independent Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...  Loyalist	2	+1	0.3	1,935
	Independent Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...  Socialist	1	+1	0.3	1,884
	Newtownabbey Labour Newtownabbey Labour Party The Newtownabbey Labour Party is a minor political party based in Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland.The party originated as the Newtownabbey branch of the Northern Ireland Labour Party. It left its parent organisation in the 1970s...	1	N/A	0.2	1,113
	Labour League	0	N/A	0.1	924
	Socialist Alliance	0	N/A	0.1	898
1	0	0.1	832
	United Democratic	0	N/A	0.1	692
	Trade Union Campaign	0	N/A	0.1	439
	Independent Alliance	0	N/A	0.1	323
0	0	0.0	247
0	0	0.0	201
	Unionist Unity	0	0	0.0	196
	UBNF	0	0	0.0	194
0	0	0.0	142
	Independent SDLP	0	0	0.0	85
	SRP	0	0	0.0	34
	UBUPP	0	0	0.0	28

Belfast

> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >

Belfast A
Party		Candidate	1st Pref
John Foster	3,333
Jeremy Burchill Jeremy Burchill Jeremy Burchill is a former barrister and unionist politician in Northern Ireland.Burchill studied at Campbell College and Queen's University, Belfast, then became chair of the Ulster Young Unionist Council...	2,589
Raymond McCrea	2,345
Grace Bannister Grace Bannister Grace Bannister, OBE, was a Unionist politician in Northern Ireland.Bannister was elected to Belfast Corporation in 1965, representing the Ulster Unionist Party . She stood as an independent Unionist in Belfast South at the Northern Ireland Assembly election, 1973, after failing to secure an...	2,055
Sammy Wilson Sammy Wilson Samuel Wilson is a politician from Northern Ireland who is a Member of Parliament and a Member of the Legislative Assembly for East Antrim. He served as Lord Mayor of Belfast in 1986 – 1987; and again from June 2000 to June 2001. He was the first person from the Democratic Unionist Party ...	1,479
Donnell Deeny	1,439
Alasdair McDonnell Alasdair McDonnell Dr Alasdair McDonnell is an Irish politician, Leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party and both a Member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and a Member of the Legislative Assembly for South Belfast. On 5 November, 2011, he was elected as the new leader of the SDLP.-Early...	1,262
Billy Blair	900
Mervyn Jones	766
T. Wilkins	544
Frank Cullen	418
P. T. McGrourty	410
D. Peters	276
Ben Horan	187
John McKeague John McKeague John McKeague was a prominent Ulster loyalist who founded the paramilitary group the Red Hand Commando in 1972. Authors on the Troubles in Northern Ireland claim that McKeague, a homosexual, was a paedophile who abused young boys during the Kincora Boys' Home scandal and was a long-time agent of...	99
J. Stewart	97
Turnout Voter turnout Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election . After increasing for many decades, there has been a trend of decreasing voter turnout in most established democracies since the 1960s...			19,133
	Democratic Unionist Democratic Unionist Party The Democratic Unionist Party is the larger of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland. Founded by Ian Paisley and currently led by Peter Robinson, it is currently the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly and the fourth-largest party in the House of Commons of the...  gain from Alliance Alliance Party of Northern Ireland The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland is a liberal and nonsectarian political party in Northern Ireland. It is Northern Ireland's fifth-largest party overall, with eight seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly and one in the House of Commons....
	Ulster Unionist Ulster Unionist Party The Ulster Unionist Party – sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or, in a historic sense, simply the Unionist Party – is the more moderate of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland...  gain from Social Democratic and Labour Social Democratic and Labour Party The Social Democratic and Labour Party is a social-democratic, Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. Its basic party platform advocates Irish reunification, and the further devolution of powers while Northern Ireland remains part of the United Kingdom...

> > > > > > > > > > > > >

Belfast B
Party		Candidate	1st Pref
Oliver Napier Oliver Napier Sir Oliver Napier was the first leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland. In 1974 he served as the first and only Legal Minister and head of the Office of Legal Reform in the Northern Ireland power-sharing executive set up by the Sunningdale Agreement.-Early life:Napier was educated at St...	2,631
Henry Evans	2,513
Joshua Cardwell Joshua Cardwell Joshua Cardwell was a Unionist politician in Northern Ireland.Born in Belfast and educated locally, Cardwell worked as the manager of a coal importing firm. In 1952 he was elected to Belfast City Council for Victoria Ward and later became an Alderman...	2,327
Bill Morrison	2,152
Tommy Patton	2,083
William Corry	1,733
Michael Brown	1,602
S. Foster	1,464
Dorothy Dunlop Dorothy Dunlop Dorothy Dunlop is a former Ulster Unionist and Conservative politician.Dunlop worked in the Arts Council in London and the for BBC Northern Ireland...	1,248
A. Greer	979
S. G. Coulson	647
D. McKee	548
	New Ulster Political Research	D. P. Scott	434
Peter Prendiville	236
Turnout Voter turnout Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election . After increasing for many decades, there has been a trend of decreasing voter turnout in most established democracies since the 1960s...			21,838
	Democratic Unionist Democratic Unionist Party The Democratic Unionist Party is the larger of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland. Founded by Ian Paisley and currently led by Peter Robinson, it is currently the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly and the fourth-largest party in the House of Commons of the...  gain from Ulster Unionist Ulster Unionist Party The Ulster Unionist Party – sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or, in a historic sense, simply the Unionist Party – is the more moderate of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland...

> > > > > > > > > > > >

Belfast C
Party		Candidate	1st Pref
David Cook David Cook (politician) David Cook is a former politician in Northern Ireland.Cook works as a solicitor, eventually becoming a senior partner at Sheldon and Stewart Solicitors....	2,493
Mary Crooks	2,099
Andrew Cairns	1,933
Brian Gibson	1,503
Ben Caraher	1,501
J. J. Dixon Gilmore J. J. Dixon Gilmore John Smiley Dixon "Dixie" Gilmore OBE was Lord Mayor of Belfast from 1987 to 1988 having previously been Deputy Lord Mayor of Belfast. He was made a officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1989....	1,326
William Stevenson	1,214
Muriel Pritchard	1,158
B. Jeffrey	913
T. McIntyre	729
Victor Brennan	532
G. Carr	530
Turnout Voter turnout Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election . After increasing for many decades, there has been a trend of decreasing voter turnout in most established democracies since the 1960s...			16,460
	Democratic Unionist Democratic Unionist Party The Democratic Unionist Party is the larger of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland. Founded by Ian Paisley and currently led by Peter Robinson, it is currently the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly and the fourth-largest party in the House of Commons of the...  gain from Unionist Party NI Unionist Party of Northern Ireland The Unionist Party of Northern Ireland was a political party founded by Brian Faulkner in September 1974.-Formation:The party emerged following splits in the Ulster Unionist Party in 1973 and 1974 over the British government's white paper Northern Ireland Constitutional Proposals, the Northern...
	Democratic Unionist Democratic Unionist Party The Democratic Unionist Party is the larger of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland. Founded by Ian Paisley and currently led by Peter Robinson, it is currently the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly and the fourth-largest party in the House of Commons of the...  gain from Alliance Alliance Party of Northern Ireland The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland is a liberal and nonsectarian political party in Northern Ireland. It is Northern Ireland's fifth-largest party overall, with eight seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly and one in the House of Commons....

> > > Socialist> > > > > > > > > > >

Belfast D
Party		Candidate	1st Pref
Joe Hendron Joe Hendron Joseph Gerard Hendron is a Northern Ireland politician, a member of the moderate Irish nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party ....	4,291
John McNulty	2,781
Cormac Boomer	2,070
Paddy Devlin Paddy Devlin Paddy Devlin was a Northern Irish social democrat and Labour activist, a former Stormont MP, a founder of the Social Democratic and Labour Party and a member of the 1974 Power Sharing Executive.-Early life:...	1,343
Mary McMahon	1,125
Gerry Kelly	957
W. J. Browning	822
Dan McGuinness	725
Mary Muldoon	636
J. Hand	538
K. Smyth	438
Anne McElroy	346
L. Hunter	167
R. Turkington	137
Turnout Voter turnout Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election . After increasing for many decades, there has been a trend of decreasing voter turnout in most established democracies since the 1960s...			17,436
	People's Democracy People's Democracy People's Democracy was a political organisation that, while supporting the campaign for civil rights for Northern Ireland's Catholic minority, stated that such rights could only be achieved through the establishment of a socialist republic for all of Ireland...  gain from Republican Clubs
	Independent Socialist Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...  gain from Social Democratic and Labour Social Democratic and Labour Party The Social Democratic and Labour Party is a social-democratic, Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. Its basic party platform advocates Irish reunification, and the further devolution of powers while Northern Ireland remains part of the United Kingdom...
	Irish Republican Socialist Irish Republican Socialist Party The Irish Republican Socialist Party or IRSP is a republican socialist party active in Ireland. It claims the legacy of socialist revolutionary James Connolly, who founded the Irish Socialist Republican Party in 1896 and was executed after the Easter Rising of 1916.- History :The Irish Republican...  gain from Alliance Alliance Party of Northern Ireland The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland is a liberal and nonsectarian political party in Northern Ireland. It is Northern Ireland's fifth-largest party overall, with eight seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly and one in the House of Commons....

> > > > > > > > > > > > >

Belfast E
Party		Candidate	1st Pref
George Haffrey	4,142
Billy Bell Billy Bell (politician) William Bradshaw "Billy" Bell, OBE, JP is an Unionist politician from Northern Ireland and former Lord Mayor of Belfast.He served as a Councillor on Belfast City Council from 1976 to 1985 and was Lord Mayor of Belfast from 1979 to 1980...	3,105
George Seawright George Seawright George Seawright was a controversial unionist politician in Northern Ireland who was assassinated by the Irish People's Liberation Organisation during the Troubles.-Early life:...	1,989
Hugh Smyth Hugh Smyth Cllr Hugh Smyth is a former leader of the Progressive Unionist Party. He is a long-serving member of Belfast City Council and former Lord Mayor of Belfast. He is also the longest-serving member of the council, having represented the Upper Shankill areas since 1973...	1,931
	New Ulster Political Research	Sammy Doyle	1,135
Laurence Kennedy	1,070
A. H. Egerton	1,011
	Unionist Democracy	Fred Proctor	692
Alban Maginness Alban Maginness Alban Maginness is a Nationalist politician in Northern Ireland.Maginness was born in Holywood, County Down, Northern Ireland. He completed his secondary education at St. Malachy's College, Belfast. He then attended the New University of Ulster and subsequently Queen's University of Belfast where...	618
J. Sands	386
Alfie Ferguson	367
P. Hunter	321
J. Weir	311
Peter Emerson	202
Margaret McNulty	177
Turnout Voter turnout Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election . After increasing for many decades, there has been a trend of decreasing voter turnout in most established democracies since the 1960s...			18,081
	Progressive Unionist Progressive Unionist Party The Progressive Unionist Party is a small unionist political party in Northern Ireland. It was formed from the Independent Unionist Group operating in the Shankill area of Belfast, becoming the PUP in 1979...  gain from Independent Unionist Independent Unionist See also Independent .Independent Unionist has been a label sometimes used by candidates in elections in the United Kingdom, indicating a support for Unionism, retaining the unity of the British state....
	Democratic Unionist Democratic Unionist Party The Democratic Unionist Party is the larger of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland. Founded by Ian Paisley and currently led by Peter Robinson, it is currently the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly and the fourth-largest party in the House of Commons of the...  gain from Alliance Alliance Party of Northern Ireland The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland is a liberal and nonsectarian political party in Northern Ireland. It is Northern Ireland's fifth-largest party overall, with eight seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly and one in the House of Commons....

> > > > > > > > > > > > >

Belfast F
Party		Candidate	1st Pref
Billy Dickson	1,913
Sean Flynn	1,639
J. Sullivan	1,002
Eric Smyth Eric Smyth Eric Smyth is a unionist politician and religious minister in Northern Ireland.Smyth was first elected to Belfast City Council for the Democratic Unionist Party in 1981, representing 'Area F' which was equivalent to the modern wards of Falls, Clonard, Blackstaff and Shaftesbury...	952
Owen Allen	898
Will Glendinning Will Glendinning Will Glendinning is a former politician in Northern Ireland. He is now the Coordinator of Diversity Challenges an independent community organization working on community relations and cultural diversity [www.diversity-challenges.com]...	844
James Stewart	719
H. G. Fitzmaurice	719
L. Cust	638
H. Fletcher	621
Mary Smyth	389
T. Lappin	227
Paul Maguire Paul Maguire (politician) Paul Maguire is a barrister and former politician in Northern Ireland.Maguire was elected to Belfast City Council for the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland in 1981. He was then elected at the Northern Ireland Assembly election, 1982, from North Belfast...	215
Turnout Voter turnout Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election . After increasing for many decades, there has been a trend of decreasing voter turnout in most established democracies since the 1960s...			11,428
	Democratic Unionist Democratic Unionist Party The Democratic Unionist Party is the larger of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland. Founded by Ian Paisley and currently led by Peter Robinson, it is currently the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly and the fourth-largest party in the House of Commons of the...  gain from Ulster Unionist Ulster Unionist Party The Ulster Unionist Party – sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or, in a historic sense, simply the Unionist Party – is the more moderate of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland...
	Irish Republican Socialist Irish Republican Socialist Party The Irish Republican Socialist Party or IRSP is a republican socialist party active in Ireland. It claims the legacy of socialist revolutionary James Connolly, who founded the Irish Socialist Republican Party in 1896 and was executed after the Easter Rising of 1916.- History :The Irish Republican...  gain from Republican Clubs

> > > > > > Socialist> > >

Belfast G
Party		Candidate	1st Pref
Frederick Ashby	1,913
Fergus O'Hare Fergus O'Hare Fergus O’Hare was involved in the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland as a member of People's Democracy in the late 1960s and early 1970s...	1,953
	New Ulster Political Research	Sammy Millar	1,420
Cecil Walker Cecil Walker Sir Alfred Cecil Walker was an Ulster Unionist Member of Parliament for North Belfast from 1983 to 2001.Walker was born in Belfast. His father was a police constable. He was educated at Everton elementary school, Model Boys' school and Belfast Methodist College. He worked for the Belfast timber...	1,173
Seamus Lynch Seamus Lynch Seamus Lynch is a former Irish republican and socialist politician.Born in North Belfast, Lynch became a republican activist around the start of The Troubles, and sided with the Official wing of Sinn Féin in the split of 1970. He was imprisoned from October 1971 until the following year...	750
Brian Feeney	749
Herbert Ditty Herbert Ditty Herbert Ditty was a lifelong Ulster Unionist politician, representing the Shankill Road, Belfast, Northern Ireland.Ditty was a founding member of the Ulster Protestant Action executive in the 1950s....	595
Gerry Fitt Gerry Fitt Gerard Fitt, Baron Fitt was a politician in Northern Ireland. He was a founder and the first leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party , a social democratic and Irish nationalist party.-Early years:...	541
Joseph Coggle	392
P. J. McGarry	313
Turnout Voter turnout Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election . After increasing for many decades, there has been a trend of decreasing voter turnout in most established democracies since the 1960s...			10,336
	Democratic Unionist Democratic Unionist Party The Democratic Unionist Party is the larger of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland. Founded by Ian Paisley and currently led by Peter Robinson, it is currently the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly and the fourth-largest party in the House of Commons of the...  gain from Alliance Alliance Party of Northern Ireland The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland is a liberal and nonsectarian political party in Northern Ireland. It is Northern Ireland's fifth-largest party overall, with eight seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly and one in the House of Commons....
	People's Democracy People's Democracy People's Democracy was a political organisation that, while supporting the campaign for civil rights for Northern Ireland's Catholic minority, stated that such rights could only be achieved through the establishment of a socialist republic for all of Ireland...  gain from Republican Clubs
	New Ulster Political Research gain from Ulster Unionist Ulster Unionist Party The Ulster Unionist Party – sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or, in a historic sense, simply the Unionist Party – is the more moderate of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland...

> > > > > > > > > > > > >

Belfast H
Party		Candidate	1st Pref
John Carson John Carson (politician) John Carson is a former Northern Ireland Ulster Unionist Party politician.A draper who owned a shop in the interface area of the Duncairn Gardens in north Belfast, Carson was elected to Belfast City Council in 1973. The following year he was elected as a member of the United Ulster Unionist...	5,014
Paschal O'Hare Paschal O'Hare Paschal O'Hare is a solicitor and former Irish nationalist politician.O'Hare joined the Social Democratic and Labour Party , and he narrowly missed out on being elected to the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention for Belfast West. In 1977, he was elected to Belfast City Council, holding his...	3,057
William Annon	3,010
Frank Millar Frank Millar Frank Millar was a Northern Irish unionist politician.Millar worked in the shipyards, where he became a shop steward, before becoming a founder member of Ulster Protestant Action in 1956....	1,848
John Cushnahan John Cushnahan John Walls Cushnahan is a former politician in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland who served as leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland and then as a Member of the European Parliament for Fine Gael....	1,739
Andy Carr	1,000
Alban Maginness Alban Maginness Alban Maginness is a Nationalist politician in Northern Ireland.Maginness was born in Holywood, County Down, Northern Ireland. He completed his secondary education at St. Malachy's College, Belfast. He then attended the New University of Ulster and subsequently Queen's University of Belfast where...	818
William Gault	813
L. McK. Clarke	553
R. O. Jamison	531
D. A. Overend	503
Pauline Strong	466
Raymond Trimble	408
Turnout Voter turnout Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election . After increasing for many decades, there has been a trend of decreasing voter turnout in most established democracies since the 1960s...			20,480
	Democratic Unionist Democratic Unionist Party The Democratic Unionist Party is the larger of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland. Founded by Ian Paisley and currently led by Peter Robinson, it is currently the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly and the fourth-largest party in the House of Commons of the...  gain from Alliance Alliance Party of Northern Ireland The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland is a liberal and nonsectarian political party in Northern Ireland. It is Northern Ireland's fifth-largest party overall, with eight seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly and one in the House of Commons....